Field of the Invention
The present application relates to a method of generating a descriptor for at least part of an image.
Description of the Related Technology
The identification and retrieval of images in an image database that are similar to an input image is a useful task, for example in the field of consumer product recommendation, for example for fashion apparel and accessories.
There are a number of known methods that exploit features at the image level. In a known method, a descriptor is generated for a complete image. This known method has the disadvantage of not being able to account for occlusion or objects within an image.
Another known method includes processing image data to identify a number of distinctive features or keypoints in an image and generating a keypoint descriptor, which characterises a region or patch around the keypoint. Colour information for an image may also be used.
Known methods may require significant data processing requirements. Moreover, known techniques of retrieving images focus more on identifying images which are identical to an input image. It is desirable to provide an improved image processing method so that images which are more or less similar to an input image may be identified effectively.